Thursday, November 12, 2009

Let the Wild Rumpus Start

...with a RAWR.


Ahem. Sorry.

Let it be said at the beginning that I haven't seen Where the Wild Things Are. It looks beautifully done, but I just haven't been in the mood.


HOWEVER, Katastrophic and I did go see the Maurice Sendak exhibit that has been advertised all over the city at the Contemporary Jewish Museum off Yerba Buena Park in SOMA.

Team, it was charming! Perhaps this is a feeling that is shared by every generation, but I feel like the quality picture books that I knew and loved are simply not around anymore. I find myself thinking that when it comes time to be buying picture books again, I will most likely look to things that I read when I was small. And hang up posters like so:


Also side note: The Contemporary Jewish Museum is GORGEOUS. Check it out on Thursdays - its $5 after 5:00pm. Katastrophic and I hit up the Sendak and Jews on Vinyl exhibits (which was awesome: we chilled and chatted on classy MCM furniture listening to The Temptations do Fiddler on the Roof)

It was lovely - they displayed final drawings and concepts for many of Sendak's books, including The Night Kitchen which was always my favorite:


A lot of Sendak's work is politically motivated, which I didn't know. Down in the Dumps with Jack and Guy (1983) takes place in the homeless lots of the Great Depression, where kidnapping fears from the Lindhberg case are combines with Sendak's fears of the 1980s AIDS crisis.

WHO KNEW.

I leave you with the last image from Kitchen.


That's the sweetness.

1 comment:

  1. I always liked his Nutcracker best. For one, the ballet was Incredible. For two - who doesn't love creepy old godfathers macking on their goddaughters through quasi-mythical nephews? O YEAH.

    I also seriously need to hear this Temptations recording. Is it on iTunes, do you think?

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